On February 16, 2024, the Alabama State Supreme Court ruled that cryopreserved embryos created using IVF were children – not potential children, not property, not blobs of tissue, and not detached parasitical material of the woman’s body. [In case you are not familiar with abortion jargon, those have been ways abortion advocates have tried to describe life developing in the womb.] The IVF ruling created a tsunami of controversy.

The U.S. Senate attempted to pass bipartisan legislation to make IVF a right. Some of the supporters of this effort professed to be pro-life. Really!

Following the Dobbs ruling overturning the 1973 Roe abortion decision, the abortion-rights advocates have found themselves a winning platform for referendums and elections. The IVF matter has thrown more fuel on that fire.

What happened?

A watershed moment occurred in October of 1995 when abortion rights advocate Naomi Wolf wrote, “I still maintain that we need to contextualize the fight to defend abortion rights within a moral framework that admits that the death of a fetus is a real death.”

A real death!

Soon, other activists were making this case, revealing a common thread that also weaved through the hearts of some professed pro-life advocates: some lives are expendable. Many who object to abortion are willing to accept a subjective view about the value of some life.

Recently, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) condemned IVF, urging SBC members “to reaffirm the unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including those in an embryonic stage.”

The media was quick to find self-professing pro-life Christians who used IVF successfully to have a child. Because it brought such a blessing, IVF must be OK. That is like arguing Pharaoh’s order to kill newborn boys was a good thing because it led to Moses delivering the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 1:8-2:10). God makes it clear that he can make good come from bad (Romans 8:28). It does not, however, condone sinning so that grace may abound (Romans 6:1).

Nearly 2% of births come by IVF. Statistics also show that to get to those births, more unborn children die from IVF than from abortion. For many people, perhaps the pro-life position needs to begin with reflection, repentance, forgiveness, and then lead to activism that is consistent with God’s word instead of an indefensible double standard about life.